$390,000 for Manhole MishapThis article is republished for the web with authorization from the August 21, 2000 issue of the New Jersey Law Journal. © 2000 NLP IP Company.
Rigsby v. Borough of Flemington: A Hunterdon County jury on Aug. 3 awarded $390,093 to a 49-year-old Ohio man who fell into a manhole and suffered shoulder and back injuries in his fall.
According to plaintiffs' attorney Charles Harris, William "Ray" Rigsby and his wife Linda, then of Raritan Township, were walking on the sidewalk of the town's North Main Street in July 1997 when Rigsby stepped on a manhole cover on the sidewalk. The cover flipped, causing him to fall partially into the manhole, says Harris, a partner in Princeton's Mason Griffin & Pierson.
Rigsby, whom Harris describes as 6'7'' and 320 pounds, needed the assistance of the local rescue squad to extricate himself. He was taken to the emergency room of the Hunterdon Medical Center where he was referred to an orthopedist and neurosurgeon for a torn left rotator cuff and an extruded herniated lumbar disk at L5-S1.
Neurosurgeon William Moore of Hunterdon Medical Center operated on Rigsby's shoulder in January 1998 and orthopedist Alfred Prada performed a discectomy at Rahway Hospital in May 1998 to relieve the herniation after nonsurgical approaches failed says Harris.
Residual scar tissue from the disc injury still causes Rigsby constant pain for which he receives physical therapy and chiropractic adjustments and other palliative treatment, says Harris. He takes Percocet as a muscle relaxant and anti-depressant, and his inability to extend his arms interferes with many daily activities, Harris adds.
Rigsby retained his job with Merco Inc., a company based in Lebanon that builds subway tunnels and does other heavy construction. He works now as an expediter, supplying materials to job sites, rather than in his former position of supervisor, says Harris. Although he returned to work within a week of the accident, he lost months of time in 1998 after his surgeries and worked only part-time for a few months, incurring a net wage loss of $22,500.
The accident occurred, according to Harris, because the manhole lid was too small to fit securely on the underlying manhole ring and there were no barriers or signs warning of the danger.
The Rigsbys filed suit in Superior Court on May 8, 1998, naming the Borough of Flemington --which owns the manhole and lid as well as the water main -- and the Elizabethtown Water Co.-- which owns the water meter. Linda Rigsby asserted a per quod claim.
Summary judgment motions and stipulations left proximate cause and damages as the sole issues for trial, which started on July 31. Chiropractor J. Donald Dilullo, orthopedist Edwin Turner Jr. and Prada testified on behalf of plaintiffs.
The defendants contended that Rigsby had injured his back, earlier, in a 1993 slip and fall. Their expert witness, orthopedist Edward Rachlin, testified that Rigsby had a degenerative lumbar condition but could not say Rigsby was not also injured in the manhole incident.
Following a four-day trial before Superior Court Judge Edmund Bernhard, the jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a unanimous decision. The joint verdict of $390,093 consists of $49,797 in stipulated medical damages, $31,800 on the per quod claim and $308,496 for plaintiff's disability, wage loss and pain and suffering.
Defense attorneys Brian O'Toole, who represents Elizabethtown, and Clark McFadden, who represents Flemington, say the judge is molding the verdict to reduce the medical expenses portion by the amount received from collateral sources, to $13,989, for a $354,285 total.
Plaintiffs' net recovery will be further reduced by 5 percent ($17,714), according to the parties' agreed apportionment of liability before trial, with Flemington's share 76 percent ($269,257) and Elizabethtown's 19 percent ($67,314).
O'Toole and McFadden say that Harris rejected their settlement offer of $200,000, with a possible added $50,000. Harris denies that, saying defendants made "no meaningful settlement offer."
Harris says that, even though Flemington is a public entity, his clients is entitled to prejudgment interest on their entire recovery, based on the joint nature of the verdict. O'Toole, a partner in Whippany's O'Toole & Couch, and McFadden, a partner in Roseland's Weston, Stierli & McFadden, dispute that position but say they do not plan to appeal.
-- By Mary P. Gallagher
Practice Areas | History | Attorneys | Media Coverage | Contacts
Clients | Employment | Newsletter | Directions | Disclaimer | Home© 2004 by Mason, Griffin & Pierson, PC
